Like it or not, Guillen is headed for brief rehab assignment in minors

Carlos Guillen will be eligible to come off the disabled list on Monday. As far as Guillen is concerned, he is ready to return to the lineup right now. Nevertheless, on Thursday the Tigers sent Guillen to Class A West Michigan in Grand Rapids, just as they did with Brandon Inge earlier this week, for what figures to be a brief rehab assignment. Guillen didn't have a vote. "It's not my decision," he said. But Guillen wasn't shy about making his feelings on the subject known. "Rehab!" the Tigers veteran said with a disgusted look on his face. "I don't think I need a rehab. I've been hitting almost every day. I feel ready to play," said Guillen, who has been sidelined since July 25 with a strained right calf. Guillen still hasn't forgotten his trip to Syracuse earlier this season when he was on a rehab assignment with the Toledo Mud Hens because of an injured hamstring. "The worst hotel, the worst clubhouse, the worst place to play," Guillen recalled. "Only one place to got to eat _ Denny's. I don't know if they have a downtown. I didn't see any buildings. I saw a couple of cars on the street. That was it." The Tigers' top two minor league subsidiaries, Toledo and Erie, are both on the road at the present time. And West Michigan, which plays at home on Friday, goes on the road to Dayton, Ohio, on Saturday. Oh well, it beats Syracuse. At least they have Skyline Chili in Dayton. "I don't want to go anywhere," said Guillen, obviously unimpressed.

About Me

Jim Hawkins began covering the Tigers as a baseball beat writer in 1970. Has chronicled the exploits of the Tigers from the days of Al Kaline, Norm Cash, Denny McLain, Billy Martin, and Mark ("The Bird") Fidrych to Jim Leyland, Magglio Ordonez, Justin Verlander, Curtis Granderson and Joel Zumaya.